1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chain-type conveyor having a direction-changing roller capable of easily changing the travel direction of an article to continuously transfer the article, without using any separate direction-changing unit (i.e., lifter) at a corner part of the conveyor, in the case in which the transfer direction of the article has to be changed during the transfer of the article by a conveyor.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a chain-type conveyor having a direction-changing roller capable of transferring an article in a straight direction by the travel (track motion) of the chain-type conveyor in a straight moving section (entry section) and changing the transfer direction of the article by the rotational force generated by friction between the article and the direction-changing roller, which is mounted on the chain-type conveyor and is rotated in a diagonal direction, in a direction changing section (corner part), without using separate lifting means, thereby reducing a cost of the article and usefully utilizing a space.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An endless conveyor belt or conveyor roller is generally used to continuously transfer articles for each unit process in loading/unloading work or on production lines. In this case, it is necessary to change the transfer direction of the article, for example, at a right angle, due to the spatial feature of a workplace or the convenience of work.
To this end, a pair of conveyors are arranged in such a way that the conveyors are oriented at a right angle, and a separate direction-changing unit (e.g., lifter, conveying device, or the like) for the article should be provided to the corner part of the conveyor, so as to continuously transfer the articles. Thus, there are some problems that a limited space of the workplace cannot be not effectively used and that the maintenance should be required for the separate direction-changing unit, which increases the cost of the article.